Facing declining enrollment and tighter finances, Brandeis University (near Boston) has — effective at the end of this academic year, and over the furious objections of the music department's chair — eliminated the ensemble's four positions, which constitute 25% of the department's faculty. - The Justice (Waltham, Mass.)
The venue, of which the orchestra will have partial ownership, is the old Scottish Rite of Freemasonry hall downtown, which has, per music director Jeffrey Kahane, excellent acoustics. The building also has years of deferred maintenance; $5 million to $10 million will be necessary just to make it safe. - San Antonio Report
For every song that is in print and available, there are at least 10 that are mothballed in storage, an estimated 2.5m pieces that may as well not exist. Popular taste has decreed that these lost songs are failures. But tastes change, markets shift and yesterday’s flop might be today’s buried treasure. - The Guardian
The challenge of how to bridge the final gap for synthetic voices will occupy scientists for a while to come. Along the way, opera does feel like an apt forum in which to explore the ethical dilemmas and expressive aspirations behind engineered voices. - The New York Times
Some of the musicians have mixed feelings about their chosen careers. “It depends on the day,. Today I feel like a tired old whore. Some days I feel like a god. Most of the time I feel like an ambitious T-shirt salesman with entitlement issues.” - The New Yorker
Richter’s 8.5-hour Sleep, based on the neuroscience of sleeping, is 10 years old, and still popular. But the composer’s newest music is for a ballet based on Margaret Atwood’s 2013 book MaddAdam. - The Observer (UK)
"A room that’s consecrated to music is one where people come together, sit in quiet communion, listen rather than shout, and focus for a couple of hours instead of getting peppered with notifications. … Such an institution is one of the few sacramental spaces we have outside of explicitly religious buildings." - Curbed (MSN)
"You do not see advertisers beating at the door of the Ives estate to use his music in commercials. His music is not ready to package or post on Instagram. But there is knowledge in it. … His music suggests America will just have to muddle through." - The New York Times
The ticketholder is attempting to launch a class-action suit claiming damages for concerts canceled when the Pops collapsed in 2022-23. The suit alleges that the cancellations were "due to a poorly planned conspiracy to force the Philly Pops out of business for the benefit of the Philadelphia Orchestra." - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
Typically, the festival sees a surge in ticket sales in June, but in 2024, a surge never arrived. With stalling sales and mounting bills — deposits for stages, bands, portable toilets and security — the outlook was grim. - SFGate
Dennis Moore, the morning host at Chicago-based WFMT, returned from a medical leave earlier this year and asked for schedule or other changes as an accommodation for a sleep-related issue. When station management declined and Moore rejected a buyout, he says, he was fired. - Chicago Sun-Times
The orchestra, which was known for improving access for students and low-income folks in the Minnesota, will play its swan song concert this weekend. Why? Conductor and AD Jay Fishman says to follow the (lack of) money. - MinnPost
"(Jeanine) Tesori knows that it takes more than a familiar name to entice audiences to a show, especially in a medium that is unfamiliar to them. So she has taken the time to clear up some misconceptions about opera, in the hopes that it will encourage theatre lovers to become opera lovers." - Playbill
Royce Vavrek, Brooklyn-based but Canadian by birth, has been appointed artistic director of Against the Grain Theatre, an experimental opera company in Toronto. - Ludwig Van
